Art of decorating hats.



F. J. MUHLFELD.

ART OF DECORATING HATS.

APPLICATION man APR. 2. 1917.

Patented a1: 12, Hi8.

2 SHEETS-SHEET L F. J. MUHLFELD.

ART OF DECORATING HATS.

APPLICATION HLED APR.I3,19I7- WITNESSES zwp Pmmd Man 12, ma

'2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

f/FAA/lfd. Ml/l/L ra FRANK J. MUHLFELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ART OF DECORATING HATS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

Application filed April 13, 1917. Serial No. 161,929.

To'aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. MUHLFELD, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of the Bronx, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Decorating Hats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of deco '-.-at ing felt hats, by printing, stenciling, painting or otherwise applying to such hats a design or series of designs. One object of my invention is to employ a plate, stencil, roller or other reproducing means bearing repeated or duplicate designs, and to obtain with its aid, in an inexpensive and expeditious manner, a hat bearing designs similar to those on the reproducing means but not exact duplicates of one another, but as nearly, as possible uniformly distorted so as to produce a more pleasing and artistic effect. Another object of my invention is to enable designs to be impressed on hat bodies in a less expensive and more expeditious manner, and with simpler mechanism, than hitherto employed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a section of a completely felted hat body in conical form; Fig. 2 shows an edge View of the same body when stretched flat; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the hat body stretched into fiat form and a design applied thereto; Fig. 4. is a front elevation of one mechanism adapted to apply a linear design to the flattened hat body; Fig. 5 is a section on'line 55 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a plan view, and Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a completed hat bearing a design which may be applied by the mechanism shown in Fig. 4; Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively plan views and side elevations of a completed hat bearing another design which may be applied by such mechanism.

In practising my invention the conical hat body shown in Fig. l is preferably first stiffened with shellac or other suitable material and then stretched into the flat form shown in Figs. 2 and 3 or into substantially fiat form) by hand or by means of any suitable stretching apparatus, for instance the well known Eichemeyer conical roller machine for breaking out hat bodies. It is generally desirable that the stretching shall be as uniform as possible, in order that the design in the finished hat shall be as balanced as possible, although in some instances, when bizarre or unbalanced designs are to be produced, the stretching may deliberately be uneven.

When the body has been stretched into flat form, or substantially flat form, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, I imprint thereon, by any suitable means, such as a stencil, a block, a plate, or rollers, a repeated or duplicated design, such as the design consisting of a num ber of parallel lines as shown in Fig. 3. Such lines may be applied for instance by the mechanismvshown in Figs. 4 and 5, in which a is an impression roller provided with grooves 29 for receiving the dyestuff from a carrying roller 0 which takes it up from trough d; a doctor 6 removes the dye adhering to the outer surface of the roller a; pressure roller f serves to hold the flattened hat body down upon roller (4 when such hat body is passed between them, so that the dyestufl in grooves Z) may be transferred to such hat body.

After the design has been applied, the hat body is subjected to the action of live steam which causes it to shrink back into conical form, the steam serving both to set the dye and to soften the fibers and the stiffening material so as to enable the body to assume such conical form. If the stretching has been uniform, the design as originally applied will be uniformly distorted, so as to produce a pleasing, balanced but symmetrically diversified effect as shown for instance in Figs. 6 and 7.

If the hat body, after having had the parallel line design applied thereto, as shown in Fig. 3, be again drawn between the rollers a and f, but in a direction at right angles to the lines first applied, the finished hat will have the appearance shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

If the design shown in Fig. 8 be applied by means of an impression roller in which the grooves b are very close together (for instance twenty-four (24) grooves to the linear inch, each groove being about Onethirty-second (g g) of an inch in width at the surface of the roller), or by any other suitable means adapted to apply close parallel lines, the resulting design will have the appearance of coarsely woven cloth. I can thus make a felt hat having the appearance of a' cloth hat; or, by applying such a design to the upper or lower surfaces of the hat only, make a felt hat which looks as if it had been covered or lined with cloth.

At some distance, however, the appear ance of woven cloth will be lost, and thehm will appear to be dyed in one color, and this is especially the case if the lines are all Drintedin the same color. can thus obtain the effect'ofdyed felt without placing the entire felt in a dye bath, and can thus produce a hat having one side of one color and the other sideof another color. I may, of course, apply my dye otherwise than, in lines, as for instance by means of a stippled roller, and in that case obtain a fuller color than can be. obtained by applying the dye with astippled roller to unstretched felt.

Agreat-variety of'designs may be applied to the flattened hat body, and also the method or instrumentalities by which they maybe applied. Stencils, handblocks, and other means quitefamiliar to hat manufacturers for applying. designs to felt hat bodies may beeinployed, but I do not limit myself to such means, as the designs may be applied by any other method, such as embossing, abrading, etc.

It will be apparent that I may by my method use one design unit, such as a straight line, a square, a maple, leaf, a rose, a shamrock, and duplicate the same by mechanical means, so, as to form a complete stencil, plate, or impression roller with raised or depressed designs, without obtaining a series of absolutely identical designs on the finished. hat. It, is, of course, possible to print a hat body in conical shape with a diversified series of designs, but this I do not claim as part of my invention. I do claim as part of my invention the idea of repeating, or substantially repeating, a design or a stencil, plate or like article, printing with this on a flattened or substantially flattened hat body, and then reshrinking' the hat body to conical form.

The fact that in the blocking or shaping operation the design applied to a felt hat is somewhat distorted has been recognized by others, but this has usually been deemed a disadvantage and has been guarded against as much as possible, whereas my invention contemplates, the deliberate, and as far as possible, uniform, distortion, as a distinct advantage.

As another part of my invention I claim the idea of printing a design of whatever type or kind, on a flattened hat body, thus making it possible to employ flat stencils or printing plates or rollers of uniform crosssection for the purpose of applying the design, without destroying the continuity of the design, as is the, case when designs are applied to either side of flattened, folded, conical hat bod ies, an unsightly break being left in' such cases. along the lines, of the fold. It is also possible to apply the entire design at one time by means of a single flat stencil or plate, or cylindrical roller. I thus obtain the advantage of ease of appl ing a design to a single flat surface, coupled with the well known advantages of a hat I made from a conically formed body.

It is, of course, understood thatthe c0n1-' cal hat body to which my design has been applied shall be blocked, shaped or otherwise brought to finished. marketable. form; also, that the hat may possibly bev stiffened after. stretching to flat form, or possibly not stiffened at all. If the hat body, isstifl'ened before stretching to flat form the application. of the design will be facilitated,-as the stifi ening material helps to keep the, body, flat.

It should also be understood that the body does not shrink back, completely to,itsoriginal conical form. The degree. of shrinkage depends upon the material employed, the

care used in stretching or steaming and the.

extent of manipulation during the shrink ing process.

\Vhile I have described my, invention. as. practised with a-hat body which isv originally completely felted into conical form, it is possible to employ my invention. witha. hat body which is originally only partly felted into conical form, the felting operation being completed only afterthe process. described by me has been performed, that is, after the flattened hat body has. bee shrunk back to conical form. V

Yariousmodiflcations may be made in my process without departing from the spirit, of my invention as outlined in the appended claims.- e

I claim:

1. The improvement in the art of applying designs to felt hat bodies which comprises felting a hat body in conical form, stretching the same to flat form, applying a design, and then shrinking the hat body to conical shape, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The improvement in the art of applying designs to felt hat bodies which com prises felting a hat body in. conical form,

stifleniug such hat body, stretching the same to flat form, applying a design, and then} shrinking the hat body to conical shape, substantially'as and for the purpose described.

3. The improvement in the art of applying designs to felt hat bodies which com,- prises felting a hat body in conical form, stretching the same to flat form, applying a repeateddesign, and then, shrinking the. hat body to conical shape, substantially as and for the purpose described. Y

4. The improvement in; the, art of ,apply-. ing designsv to felt hat bodies which com; prises felting a hat bodyin conical form, stretching the same to flat fonmapplying dye to spaced portions thereof and then shrinking the hat body to conical shape, the shrinking the hat body to conical shape, subparallel lines being sufiiciently close together stantially as and for the purpose described. to give the design, after completion of the 5. The improvement in the art of applyshrinking process, the appearance of Woven 5 ing designs to felt hat bodies Which comcloth, substantially as and for the purpose 15 prises felting a hat body in conical form, described. 7 stretching the same to flat form, applying In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set thereto a series of parallel lines and at, or my hand. substantially at right angles to such lines l0 another series of parallel lines, and then FRANK J. MUHLFELD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

